Manu Delago (born 31 July 1984) is an Austrian musician and composer.

Biography

Delago was born in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

, and took music lessons as a child in accordion and piano. As a teenager he mainly played drums for various rock bands. In 2003 he picked up the Hang, which gradually turned into one of his main musical instruments. After graduating from the

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg ( German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteu ...

, Innsbruck, in classical percussion, Delago moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and studied jazz drums at the

Guildhall School of Music & Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with drama ...

, beginning his focus on the Swiss instrument, Hang. Later he studied composition at the

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

in London. After completing his studies, he worked as a composer, ensemble leader and musician. Since 2007 he has performed internationally in more than fifty countries on six continents including prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Barbican in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Sydney Opera House and Fuji Rock Festival in Japan.

Career

Between 2000 and 2007 Delago was working as live and studio drummer for various Austrian bands such as HotchPotch, Zabine, Michael Tschuggnall, Nadine Beiler, Bluatschink and more. In 2006, after playing together in different bands, Delago and Christoph Pepe Auer founded the first Hang and

Bass Clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

duo in the world called Living Room. The duo has released two albums and a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

series called Hang & Bass Clarinet Megahits. He also regularly tours with his own ''Manu Delago Handmade'' and 'Manu Delago Ensemble'. Delago has also collaborated with artists including

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

Anoushka Shankar Anoushka Hemangini Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer. She performs across multiple genres and styles—Indian classical, classical and contemporary, acoust ...

Ólafur Arnalds Ólafur Arnalds (; born 3 November 1986) is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. He mixes strings and piano with loops and beats, a sound ranging from ambient/electronic to atmospheric pop. He is also th ...

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, Ellie Goulding,

Bugge Wesseltoft Jens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft (born 1 February 1964) is a Norwegian jazz pianist, composer, and producer, son of jazz guitarist Erik Wesseltoft. Career In 1989, Wesseltoft collaborated with the Knut Riisnæs Quartet and was soon after ...

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, Stuart McCallum,

Boris Grebenshchikov Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the founder and lead singer of the band Aquarium which has been active since ...

, and many more. He appeared as a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra strings, Britten Sinfonia, Metropol Orkest, Aurora Orchestra, Münchner Kammerorchester, Züricher Kammerorchester and various other orchestras. His solo piece ''Mono Desire'' was listed in the Top30 best-rated music videos on

. Delago has featured as percussionist and hang player for several of

's shows, starting with the

Biophilia tour The Biophilia tour was the seventh concert tour by Icelandic musician Björk. The tour was centered on her multimedia project and studio album ''Biophilia (album), Biophilia'' (2011). The tour premiered at the Manchester International Festival an ...

up until the

Cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (; ), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts. In Greek, it was called the " horn of ...

performances. He also performed percussion with

The Cinematic Orchestra The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and downtempo music group created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe and later involving his music collaborator Dominic Smith. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune. The Cinematic Orches ...

from 2014-2016 and with Ólafur Arnalds in 2018. He was a composer, musician and assistant engineer for Anoushka Shankar's 2016 album ''Land of Gold''. He also accompanied her on her world tour. Together with the Metropol Orkest they recorded the album 'Between us' which was nominated for a 'Best Global Album' Grammy award. In 2018 Manu Delago released Parasol Peak – a multi-award winning album and film in which Manu Delago leads an ensemble of seven musicians on a mountaineering expedition in the Alps. After years of touring, Manu felt it was important to do his bit towards sustainability by launching the carbon-neutral Recycling Tour in 2021, performing venues across Germany and Austria, accessed only by bicycles. On the second ReCycling Tour in 2023 his band cycled from Innsbruck to Amsterdam and performed 18 concerts on the way, carrying all equipment in bike trailers.

Discography

Albums

* 2024 – Manu Delago – ''Snow from Yesterday'' * 2021 – Manu Delago – ''Environ Me'' * 2020 – Manu Delago – ''Circadian Live'' * 2019 – Manu Delago – ''Circadian'' * 2018 – Manu Delago – ''Parasol Peak'' * 2018 – Manu Delago – ''Metromonk Unplugged'' EP * 2017 – Manu Delago – ''Metromonk'' * 2015 – Manu Delago – ''Silver Kobalt'' * 2013 – Manu Delago – ''Bigger Than Home'' * 2012 – Manu Delago & London Symphony Orchestra strings – ''Manuscripts'' * 2010 – Living Room (Christoph Pepe Auer & Manu Delago) – ''Colouring Book'' * 2010 – Manu Delago – ''Made in Silence 2'' * 2008 – Manu Delago – ''Adventions'' * 2007 – Manu Delago – ''Handmade'' * 2007 – Christoph Pepe Auer & Manu Delago – ''Living Room'' * 2006 – Manu Delago – ''Made in Silence''

Features

* 2016 – ''Land of Gold'' – Anoushka Shankar * 2016 – ''Vulnicura live'' – Björk * 2016 – ''Land of Gold'' – Anoushka Shankar * 2015 – ''Why don't you –'' Joss Stone * 2013 – ''A long way'' – Andreya Triana * 2013 – ''Traces of You'' – Anoushka Shankar * 2011 – ''Virus'' – Björk * 2009 – ''Nothing is something worth doing'' – Shpongle * 2009 – ''Live in Concert'' – Shpongle (DVD) * 2008 – ''Arigato'' – Boris Grebenshchikov

Further compositions

* 2015 – ''Newton's Rainbow'' (hang, sarod & string orchestra) * 2014 – ''Secret Corridor'' (hang, electronics & string quartet) * 2012 – ''Concertino Grosso'' (hang & string orchestra) * 2012 – ''CHS'' (hang & female choir in six parts) * 2011 – ''Chaos_Equalibrium'' (string quartet & dance) * 2010 – ''Why does one hide from six?'' (Würfelspiel für gemischtes Ensemble – dice game for a mixed ensemble) * 2009 – ''Pencilphonie No. 1 in Hb2'' (a self-portrait for pencil, eraser & sharpener) * 2009 – ''5 ft 12'' (Marimba solo) * 2009 – ''Los Cepillos de Dientes'' (music for 2 acoustic toothbrushes) * 2007 – ''If you’re really right, will be proved by the light'' (3 players on 2 marimbas)

References

External links

*
''Living Room London'' at St. Luke's
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delago, Manu 1984 births Living people Musicians from Innsbruck Austrian percussionists Austrian jazz composers Austrian male jazz composers